The much awaited new Act on Electoral Procedures has been finally adopted, and from new rules on voter registration all the way to peculiar campaign advertisement regulations, it contains all the controversial elements that critics have lambasted for months. Fidesz has ultimately rejected the proposals that would have made the registration process easier for citizens who are also Hungarian residents, even the two week mail-in window provided for in the original bill. It is limiting both the time for campaigning as well as spaces where advertisements may be displayed, thus placing even greater restrictions on the opposition’s already limited communication channels to the public. Even what was anticipated to be slight progress, i.e. the number of signatures necessary for placing candidates on the ballot, ultimately turned out to be far less generous than originally suggested.

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